The Charge

Carrie: I'm looking for love. Real love. Ridiculous, inconvenient, consuming,
can't-live-without-each-other love. And I don't think that love is here in this
expensive suite in this lovely hotel in Paris.

Opening Statement

Sarah Jessica Parker decided to wrap up her ground-breaking HBO series after
six years of sex, fashion, and friends in New York City. Finally, we have all
the DVDs so we can laugh and cry (as well as freeze frame on our favorite Manolo
Blahniks). Get ready for the gush…because despite being a guy, I loved
this show. It hardly ever faltered, and these last eight episodes are as funny
and wonderful as the first. I can't believe it's over. I'm still searching for
something to make my Sunday nights complete without the girls who taught me
everything I needed to know about sex (and was afraid to ask). Sex and the
City—Season Six, Part Two offers one last glimpse of the fearless
fashionable foursome who proved a sitcom on cable could make broadcast
television look cheap and shallow. It was the ultimate love story about friends
and a city.

Facts of the Case

Over six seasons we saw Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker, Square Pegs, Honeymoon in Vegas), Miranda
(Cynthia Nixon, Advice from a Caterpillar), Samantha (Kim Cattrall, Big Trouble in Little China), and
Charlotte (Kristin Davis, Melrose Place) love and gossip about men and
their sexual conquests. In these final eight episodes we see a marriage, a fight
with breast cancer, a friend moving away, and a touching finale that brilliantly
gives them what they need. Despite rumors of an on- and off-again movie project
(which now seems permanently derailed), the story comes to a touching conclusion
in these last few episodes. The main arc deals with Carrie and her big-time
Russian artist lover Aleksander Petrovsky (Mikhail Baryshnikov, White
Nights). Will he sweep her away forever with his patented Doctor Zhivago moves? The other girls face
their own obstacles as well. Can Miranda come to terms with her love for the
bartender Steve (David Eigenberg, The
Mothman Prophecies)? Is it possible for Charlotte to find all she desires
with her new Hebrew husband Harry (Evan Handler, Natural Born Killers)? And finally, will
Samantha finally realize that Smith (Jason Lewis, Next Stop Wonderland)
is more than just a boy toy? And of course, there are the burning questions
every fan asked. Would somebody die? Are the girls going to be together in the
end? And what about Mr. Big (Chris Noth, Law and Order)?

This set is a little different than the previous season releases. It has
three discs, and the last one is full of bonus material that covers all six
seasons. For fans of the show its the holy grail of deleted scenes and tributes
that show highlights from the entire run. All four commentaries are provided by
head writer and executive producer Michael Patrick King. So despite the low
number of actual episodes, you do get some bang for your buck.

The Evidence

Sex and the City started off as an actual column in The New York
Observer by writer Candace Bushnell. There is a book printed that assembles
the columns upon which the show was based, and it's wildly cynical and frank
(definitely worth a peek for fans). The first season followed the book almost
word for word, and pulled all its stories from that source material. Sex and
the City was a sensation, and they had to assemble a group of writers (five
single women and a gay guy) to continue the narrative over the remaining five
seasons. Amazingly, what started off as some sort of sexual anthropology study
became a story about four archetypal women in the Big Apple. The show was always
shot on location (with very few sets), and had a hip look combining current
fashion trends and New York hotspots with extravagant production values. But why
did it work so well? The cast was phenomenal; you really believed in these girls
and cared about them. The writing was always poignant, and the seasons arced
nicely to allow for strong character development and insight. It was a show that
was as good as it looked, and delivered humor and real emotion in equal
doses.

The episodes in Season Six, Part Two are all outstanding shows, but
they were designed for the hardcore fan and not the casual channel surfer. If
you're a neophyte and not among the faithful or converted, better to start with
the first season than with these eight episodes. Everything is here—sexy
scenes with lots of nudity, outrageous fashions, New York hip spots, '30s-style
grand slapstick comedy, sly sarcastic '90s delivery, and moments that will pull
at your heartstrings and trigger the waterworks. They truly are eight valentines
to the fans of the show, and tie in all the continuity from throughout the
series (especially in the two part finale). The final scenes of the show are
powerful and well done. I originally watched the last episode in a bar with
several friends around me (all drinking martinis, cosmopolitans, and Manhattans
of course!). Despite my being a guy, and the very public setting, I was covered
in tears of happiness as they gave each character exactly what they deserved to
send them on their way after six years. Even watching it again in the privacy of
my apartment, I still get very emotional. I'm not an easy target, either (I
never cried during Bambi or E.T.).
They melted my heart, because this is a show that knows its characters and its
audience, and devotedly remains true to both.

The set contains three discs in a pretty pink plastic package. The first two
contain four episodes each, and the final one is all the supplemental material.
Executive producer Michael Patrick King provides four commentaries about the
series and what their goals were with these last few shows. He's a lively
commentator, even though he seems a little too self-congratulatory. At one point
he compares a scene in Sex and the City to Citizen Kane, which seemed way over
the top to me (it's not THAT good).

The HBO tributes included give you a comprehensive look at the show from the
pilot to the finale, and include interviews with the cast and crew as well as
some celebrity fans (most of whom made guest appearances). There is a very nice
in-depth interview with Sarah Jessica Parker at the Comedy Arts Festival which
includes all the writers. I was a little disappointed with the three alternate
endings, because they are not the three versions of the scene on the bridge at
the show's climax. The false ending is a coffee house scene that was never
really in the show to begin with (you see it, but you don't hear the
conversation). Deleted scenes are a nice touch, and are divided into seasons
from one through six. Great idea! I wonder why these scenes were not included in
the other sets? Guess they wanted to save up their bonus material.

The picture and sound seem to be constant throughout the show and all its
releases. Sex and the City has never gotten a stellar transfer, but it's
passable. Colors are sharp and the image looks fine. My biggest beef is how the
grain often mucks up the night scenes. It detracts from the show's color palette
and distracts me. Sound, on the other hand, is killer. They give you a 5.1
surround mix that makes all the music and city sound effects leap right out of
the television. Why don't other television shows get this kind of sonic
treatment? Here is a program that relies on conversation, and they still provide
some real power to their sound mix. Environments always seem better realized
because the sound is so sophisticated and layered, and you feel like you are in
a city.

The Rebuttal Witnesses

My only problem with the show lies in its resolution. Here was a story that
empowered single women (and men) everywhere by saying you could have a fabulous
life without marriage or children. Not since Mary Tyler Moore threw her hat in
the air had we had such a bold statement about women living on their own (and
that show was never anywhere near as sexy as this!). Carrie, Miranda, Samantha
and Charlotte were women who lived on their own terms, and forged their own
destinies away from Middle America's conventions about how a woman should define
herself. And yet on- and off-screen marriages and babies tore them all apart.
Sex and the City's cast had started families, and many of the core
actresses wanted to focus on that (most notably Sarah Jessica Parker herself).
Real life seemed to seep into the plot lines of the show—in the last
episodes the girls often defined themselves by men even when they claimed they
didn't. Had the show stopped after any previous season finale, the gang would
have been forever single and fabulous in our minds. Yet for some reason the
writers felt the finale should conclude many of their quests. Yeah, they got
what they wanted, but they also derailed the whole idea these women could be
sexy and single forever. I guess even the most forward-thinking of people
eventually settle down, but somehow I was wishing for the girls to ride off into
the sunset together rather than into the arms of men. Maybe I shouldn't have
taken those feminism classes in college, but I felt a little bit betrayed.

I hate that HBO felt the need to split this season into two sets rather than
one. I feel like this last half of the season is too short to mandate its own
separate box, and in overseas markets Season Six is included in its entirety in
one volume. Seems like corporate greed has taken over, and they are hoping
die-hard fans will buy two sets to get one season. This hardly seems fair to the
consumer. What can you do but shrug and fork over enough cash to make you skip
your next shoe purchase?

Closing Statement

Whatever your reasons for being a fan, this set is a must-have, if only
because it's the climax of the series. Sex and the City—Season Six,
Part Two ties up all the loose ends of the series, and offers you a lot of
supplemental material that makes it a nice package. I only wish HBO had decided
to release the entire season in one set. Sex and the City ultimately is
great television that made me laugh and cry again and again. I can never get
through its finale without a tear sliding down my face (even when I watched it
with the commentary on). It's rare, beautiful, and powerful.

The Verdict

Carrie and her posse are free to roam around Manhattan until they find
happiness. I miss all of them every Sunday night, but I have Sex and the
City—Season Six, Part Two to keep me company. HBO is required to do
community service to make up for the way they have exploited fans of this series
by breaking Season Six in half. They should give all of us coupons for two
months of their services for free (with proofs of purchase).